The present invention relates to a cover including a plurality of planar members, in accordance with the preamble of claim 1, as well as an interior accessory part provided with a like cover.
Where a storage, retaining or keeping apace or the access opening thereof is to be made such that it may be opened and closed, one frequently encounters the problem how to design the cover usable for this purpose. An example where the generic covers may be used are interior accessory parts for vehicles for receiving and/or keeping objects. The like interior accessory parts or deposition receptacles may be arranged in vehicles, at a multiplicity of locations in the passenger cabin.
Thus it is known to arrange a deposition receptacle between the two front seats of a passenger car. Where these deposition receptacles formerly were simple trough-shaped receptions for simply inserting the objects to be deposited, it has in the past few years increasingly been adopted to design these deposition receptacles such that they may be closed with a cover. This is done for a number of reasons, i.a. to protect the inside of the deposition receptacle or objects located therein against dust, insolation, direct visibility eta. Apart from arrangement between the two front seats it is also known to provide deposition receptacles in the center console, the dashboard, the door linings, the roof liner, in a tiltable armrest an the rear bench, in the rear shelf etc. In addition to being arranged in passenger cars, correspondingly designed deposition receptacles can furthermore be encountered in buses, railway cars, airplanes and the like.
In accordance with the above explanation, it is at least desirable, even necessary in some cases, to provide the deposition receptacle with a cover whereby access to and/or view into the deposition receptacle may be precluded.
Thus it is known, for example, in the case of a deposition receptacle arranged between the front seats, to provide it with an upward tilting lid, with the top of this lid frequently being upholstered and usable as an armrest.
Moreover it is known for the case of deposition receptacles located, e.g., between the front seats of a passenger car, to provide a cover translatable in the longitudinal direction of the container and consisting of single, interconnected strips which extend crosswise with respect to the longitudinal extension, constituting the cover in their entirety, and laterally held in guide grooves. In order to open it, the cover is pushed in the opening direction, with the interconnected strips of the cover sliding along the guide grooves and being invisibly guided in a downward direction through 180xc2x0 by the guide grooves and then being guided underneath the bottom surface of the deposition receptacle in a forward direction. This basic type of cover is also known from so-called sliding door cabinets.
From DE-PS 44 03 111 there is moreover known a deposition receptacle for vehicles, capable of being covered by some type of blind. The blind is laterally guided by its edges in guide grooves, with these grooves being formed by the very accessory part on the one hand and by a cover frame on the other hand.
In the case of a cover design of the upward tilting lid type, it is, among others, disadvantageous thatxe2x80x94where desired or necessaryxe2x80x94the deposition receptacle cannot readily be left open for a prolonged period of time, for the upwardly projecting lid will then either impede the driver and/or fall back from the opened position into the closing position during braking, accelerating or cornering.
In the case of a translatable cover composed of a plurality of interconnected strips which are arcuately guided downward/to the rear in the manner of a sliding door cabinet, there arises the problem that, owing to the reception space necessary for the cover in the opened position, quite considerable restrictions with respect to installation possibilities may exist.
It is a drawback of the deposition receptacle for vehicles, or of the cover therefor, in accordance with DE-PS 44 03 111 that a separate cover frame is required for concealing the lateral guide means of the blind. As a result, first of all the space requirement is increased owing to the additional component having the form of the cover frame. Moreover this space requirement for deflection of the blind in turn restricts versatility, i.e. variability of installation. In addition, the cover frame must be adapted to the deposition receptacle, or the lateral guide means thereof, which brings about an increase in production and mounting costs. The cover frame finally creates an additional separation line in the visual range, which is undesirable in terms of visual impression.
The invention is based on the object of designing a cover in accordance with the preamble of claim 1 in such a way that a sturdy, visually agreeable possibility of covering, e.g., deposition receptacles for vehicles at low space requirement, a small number of components and hence low production costs is furnished.
This object is achieved by the cover as defined in claim 1 comprising a plurality of planar members.
In accordance with the invention, each planar member is provided with at least two laterally protruding guide projections defining an axis of rotation, which are staggered with respect to the joint connection connecting two neighboring planar members. Owing to this measure, a turning moment is transmitted to the joint connection upon pivoting the foremost planar member of the cover when viewed in the opening direction, whereby the neighboring planar member in also taken into the pivoting position, and thus the zig-tag folding takes place automatically. I.e., rotation of the planar members takes place in a controlled manner through introduction of a force as a function of the translating force acting on the cover, so that the cover may be folded in a controlled manner. This structure according to the invention is thus, other than the prior art according to DE-PS 866 843, independent of gravity and may be implemented in any orientation (horizontal, vertical, oblique).
Although solutions for closing structural openings or roofs are known from CH 688 593 and DE 3 801 586, which provide a planar configuration of the planar members as a whole in their closing position, nevertheless costly technical means are required for the opening and closing displacement and for initiation of zig-zag folding, in particular for guiding the planar members, so that use of these covers, in contrast to the universal application made possible in the present invention, is restricted to special cases such as, for example, roofs.
Owing to the measure of forming at each end face of a planar member two guide projections received in a guide groove, every planar member of the cover may be kept in a planar orientation in the closing position, so that a level, planar cover is created. In this variant it is preferred to form a pair of guide projections having a smaller axial length than the other pair of guide projections, with the short guide projections being moved out from the guide groove in the opened state, so that the planar members are then only guided by the long guide projections.
Particularly compact folding is obtained if the planar members are connected to the neighboring planar members by means of a double-hinge connection having two 90xc2x0 hinges on the one hand, and by means of a single-action hinge connection having one 180xc2x0 hinge on the other hand.
Herein it is particularly advantageous if the guide projections remaining in the guide groove are formed in the immediate vicinity of the double-hinge connection in such a way that on the one hand, sufficient force may be transmitted to the hinge for pivoting, and on the other hand, in the pivoting state, the area defined by the two 90xc2x0 hinges does not excessively project beyond the guide path in the viewing direction.
Preliminary experimentation has shown that owing to provision of a dead travel, a planar closing position of the planar members is ensured in the closed state of the cover, and that controlled folding of the cover may he initiated without any problems inasmuch as the foremost planar member in the opening direction contacts a stop after passing through the dead travel.
Quality of covering may be further improved if the foremost planar member in the opening direction is associated with an additional support on which the short guide projections rest in the closing position only. As a result of passing through the dead travel, the guide projections are moved off the additional support, making it possible to initiate the pivoting process. I.e., the additional support has the effect of the foremost planar member, which initiates the folding process, also being held in the covering position when in the closing position and being prevented from tilting.
Release of the short guide projections may, e.g., be effected in that the guide grooves present a support surface shortened in the folding range, so that the short guide projections are not supported there any more.
Pivoting may be controlled in a defined manner if an axially inner guide path branches off from the guide groove, with the short guide projections being guided along this guide path during the pivoting displacement. Advantageously the cover is provided with locking means for immobilising it in the opening and/or closing position.
In one variant, the rearrest planar member in the opening direction is designed integrally with a grip part which projects upwardly in the opened state of the cover owing to upward pivoting of the planar member, so that simply actuated manipulation means are provided. A like variant may be adopted with particular advantage for beverage holders. Immobilisation of the object to be received, for example a beverage can, may be improved if at least one of the planar members carries on its back side a support member encompassing the object to be immobilised at least in portions thereof in the opened or closed state of the cover.
In a preferred manner, the planar members are deformation resistant panel components, the hinge connections are film hinges of a sufficiently flexible material, and the panel camponents and the film hinges are preferably connected integrally with each other. Particularly in the closing position of the cover this results in the absence of separation lines or gaps in the surface of the cover without interfering with smooth folding of the single planar members with respect to each other.
In order to ensure full-surface covering, the joint or hinge connections are preferably formed across the entire width of the planar members.
In one embodiment, the foremost planar member in the closing direction of the cover capable of being taken into the zig-zag position is followed by a planar member which may substantially only be displaced in translation along the guide means. It is then possible to arrange at this planar member a grip part for easily and ergonomically moving the cover, as well as locking means for locking the cover at least in the closing position.
Mounting the cover of the invention is particularly simple if a mounting groove opening in front of the guide groove and enabling introduction of the cover therethrough is provided.
Further advantageous developments of the invention constitute the subject matters of the further appended claims.